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How we get others to do what we want

IF YOU can stand the bad jokes and get past the irritating title, Flipnosis offers some powerful insights into the art and science of getting people to do what you want. Kevin Dutton, who lectures at the University of Cambridge, follows the vogue in popular psychology for trying to boil down complex behaviours into simple formulae. Apparently, the most successful persuasion involves five essential factors or traits – simplicity, perceived self-interest, incongruity, confidence and empathy – a blueprint Dutton describes as “the genome of the most powerful strain of influence on the planet”.